Thursday, January 26, 2006

The worm farm in my basement















Ever heard of vermicomposting?

I keep a few hundred (thousand?) red worms in my basement to compost my kitchen waste.

I started out with a dixie-cup sized portion of worms and compost from a fellow Master Gardener about three years ago. I used a simple rubbermaid bin to house the worms, but then switched to a tray- type bin last year.

Once a week or so I *feed* the worms with the leftover greens and fruit from the bunnies, some coffee grounds, occasional egg shells, and shredded junk mail for bedding material.

After a few weeks or months, the worms turn what you see in the above photo into beautiful, dark and fluffy compost (the photo at right is over-exposed). My houseplants thrive on this stuff!

It just amazes me. No work on my part - other than a desire to *waste* less - no smell, no pests, no trouble at all - and free organic fertilizer for my garden!

2 comments:

Hexdek16 said...

Good to hear about the worms! We started our 'worm farm' this January.

I roast coffee so needless to say they get a steady dose of grounds & newspaper. We hope to expand our farm size to provide feed for some soon coming chickens and to has a good rich soil additive..........

Jennifer said...

I hope you are still reading this! I have had a wormfactory 360 in my basement for 2 weeks and each day I find dozens of worms dead on the floor under/next to the box. I was wondering if the location was the issue.... I googled worms/basement and found your blog :)